Author: J.C. Emery
Publisher: Left Break Press
Published: January 9th 2014
Format: eARC | Pages: 200
Genre: NA, Contemporary, Romance
Source: InkSlinger PR
★★★★★ (5/5) Stars!!!
J.C. Emery | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Loneliness suffocates the heart. Acceptance breaks down walls.
As a Lost Girl to the Forsaken Motorcycle Club, Nicole Whelan knows how to party. She’s not cut-out for relationships and her life is way too complicated for anything more than casual encounters. But one night when she falls into Duke’s bed at the clubhouse, he sees something in her that he can’t let go of—no matter how many times she tries to run.
Having been left to raise her teenage brother, Jeremy, she’s already got her hands full and isn’t looking for anymore complications. But Duke’s just watched his best friend fall for the only girl he couldn’t have, and then almost lose her so shortly after, shaking him to his core. Faced with his own loneliness, he’s more determined than ever to break down Nic’s walls and show her that he can be good for her; but he’s got a bad track record and she’s got a bad temper. Changing his ways isn’t easy when he’s not sure what he’s even changing for.
The violence and turmoil are at an all-time high, and Forsaken is in a vulnerable place when a twist of fate breathes new life into the club. It’s a much-needed beacon of hope for the embattled biker family, even if everyone’s not exactly on board. With Duke and Nic’s relationship already on shaky ground, and something even more important at stake, the Forsaken Motorcycle Club will fight like hell to keep their family together and whole.
Love is never more precious than when it’s new.
I received a copy of this book from InkSlinger PR in exchange for an honest review. In no way did this sway either my review or my rating!
And that's the dangerous thing about having something worth losing-once it's gone-and that always hurts.
Well if I wasn't already hooked after reading Ride, book one, I'm not even sure how to describe how I'm feeling about this series after finishing Thrash. Though I absolutely loved Ryan and Alex's story, there was just something about this one with Duke and Nicole that I felt even deeper. I was already a huge fan of Duke's before starting this so getting to continue on with his story and get to know Nic better had me all sorts of excited. And there were no disappointments here. It was just as dark, just as frustrating and just as emotional as it's predecessor. All in the very best of ways.
Nic doesn't do sweet because she doesn't know what to do with it, but asshole she understands.
Nic had made a few appearances in the first book as Alex fought hard to befriend her and you could see Nic's reluctance through Alex's eyes. She was done with club life and people associated with the club. She seemed all kinds of tough and screwed up and I was very interested in knowing more of her story. The more I got to know her story the more endearing she became to me. Sure she's got an attitude and a mouth on her but this girl has had it rough and she struggles in silence with a determination to make it on her own because she can only depend on herself. Yet it's not hard to see through the cracks and see the girl beneath the though as nails exterior. Her baggage is full of things like abandonment and abuse and so much other stuff. Stuff that would have had me giving up so long ago and yet she fights everything and makes so many sacrifices to keep her and her brother together. She's just all kinds of awesome.
"The shit we do requires us to be assholes. Can't always turn it off just because we should."
I had already started to fall for Duke before I even started this one. Sure he's just as much of an ass as the rest of the Forsaken guys but there's also this playful side to him that always spread a grin over my face. He likes to push people right past their limits and then sometimes keep going. And not just playfully sometimes he does it just to be a complete ass. But it didn't take very long into this book to see that while he has those sides of him there's also this gentleness, that you don't expect to see, when it comes to Nicole. He's not perfect and he screws up...a lot and he says the wrong things...a lot. But his persistence and certainty when it came to his future and Nic would melt my heart. I'm such a sucker.
But that's the problem with club life-the thing these men love the most is the club.
I loved the fact that the timeline for this story runs parallel to the first book. So sometimes there was a whole outside perspective to things and situations that were happening in Ride. And seeing the events that would eventually lead up to situations that happened as well. Like one of the times when Ryan had flipped a switch and went from hot to cold suddenly and I thought to myself 'well that's just Ryan being Ryan' but come to find out there was actually a whole explosion that led to it. Plus finally being able to see one of the most major events that happened in Ride but we only saw it in Alex's point of view, with Thrash we got to see the Forsaken side of it through Duke. Loved it!
My girl's hell on wheels with a bottle of Jack and her middle finger up in the air-at least with me she is.
For most of the book I thought this one was going to be a bit milder than the first one. I mean there was still the frustrations, the attitudes and the ups and the downs but I had assumed that we'd just be dealing with the aftermath of the craziness that goes down in Ride. Little did I realize that the end of Thrash would present itself with a whole new crazy all in its own. Craziness that perfectly lays the groundwork for us to expect some serious shit to go down as this series progresses and I can't wait to see how it all goes down. With two situations of unsettled business I know we've not seen anything yet. And I'm pretty freaking nervous!
Seeing that shit firsthand makes me believe that maybe even the most difficult, hard to love soul can be loved by someone. Sappy as it is, it gives me hope.
As you can see I'm still just as hooked on this series and the guys of the Forsaken MC. They're all gruff and harsh and have mean streaks in them like you wouldn't believe but there's still just a bit of something about each one of them that gives you hope that they're not hard all the way to their cores. At the end of the day, sure, they do a lot of questionable shit and they give each other hell and they fight and disagree. But each one of them would lay down their life for each other and their families if it came down to it and I can't wait to continue on and get to know some of the rest of them better!
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